Former Church Of St Peter

The E windows, the first two on the N and S, and the W windows (the latter reset) are C13, the rest are C19.

Trefoiled niche with a 1923 statue of St Peter on the S side, and below a C13 door with two rich orders, the outer on shafts, the inner continuous.

The kneelers in the transepts have head corbels that may be medieval.

Gabled W porch with moulded doorway on shafts, another C19 copy of the C13 S door.

The C13 chancel windows have shafted rerearches with roll mouldings on attached shafts with moulded capitals.

Whichcord's nave largely follows the design of the original C13 work, but his lancets are separated by detached shafts of Bethersden marble.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES Mid C13 sedilia and piscina in the chancel, heavily restored, with richly moulded, trefoiled arches on detached marble shafts with moulded capitals and bases, contemporary with the windows and the chancel as a whole.

There is another C13 trefoiled piscina further west in the S wall.

Some C19 and C20 glass.

HISTORY The church began as the chapel of a hospital dedicated to SS Peter and Paul called the Newark of Maidstone, founded by Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury in the mid C13 for pilgrims crossing the nearby Medway.

The original charter is lost, but a confirmation charter of 1261 exists.

In 1395 the hospital was merged with the new foundation of All Saints, Maidstone, although the hospital apparently retained some independence.

The C13 structure now forms the eastern half of the building, and Whichcord carefully took down the W wall of the original building and re-erected it 40' to the W. By the late C20, the area around the church was largely industrial and the church became redundant.

SOURCES Newman, J., Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald , 400 Council for the Care of Churches Report , held at NMR REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The former church of St Peter, Maidstone, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * It was originally a hospital chapel for pilgrims travelling to Canterbury. * Very good C13 chancel with fine contemporary sedilia and piscina.

W wall dismantled and re-erected in the C19. * Converted to a parish church and enlarged in 1836-9 by John Whichcord, Snr. * Where it survives, the C13 work is of very high quality as befits an archiepiscopal foundation.